March 17: mid-session report

The Indian markets gave thumbs up to the FOMC decision to hold rate hike and surged in sync with the other major global markets. FOMC a major event unfolded as largely expected, leaving behind a positive message. Continuing its momentum further into the week, the markets looked strong. CNX Energy and Bank Nifty were the major gainers in trade.

Nifty was trading up by 67 points at 7565; and Sensex by 179 points at 24860. Both the leading indicators were trading with gains of 0.89 and 0.72 per cent respectively.

The advance-decline ratio showed a similar trend as majority of the counters traded in red. 1418 scrips were trading in the positive territory; 793 scrips were trading in the negative zone; however 143 stocks remained unchanged on the NSE.

Top Nifty Gainers: BPCL is leading the gainers' list as it was trading up by close to 5.6 per cent followed by Gail, Ambuja Cements, Adani Ports SEZ and Tech Mahindra which were up 4.77; 4.27; 4.16; and 3.89 per cent respectively.

Top Nifty Losers: Lupin is leading the losers' list down by close to 3.29 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, HDFC, Dr Reddy’s Lab and Tata Power which are down anywhere between 3.40 per cent to 1.91 per cent.

All the major sectoral indices were trading in green except for BSE Healthcare Index which was down by about 0.60 per cent. BSE Oil & Gas; BSE Metals; and BSE Bankex Index were the biggest gainers in trade as they rose by 2.8; 1.2; and 1 per cent respectively. BSE Small-Caps index also saw buying in trade and rose by 0.65 per cent. BSE Mid -Cap Index also increased by 0.97 per cent.

All the other major Asian markets were trading in green, except for Nikkei which closed down by about 0.22 per cent. Chinese benchmark index CSI ended the day with gains of 0.96 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed the day by advancing 0.93 per cent, whereas Korean KOSPI rose by 0.66 per cent for the day.

In commodities, Oil futures extended strong gains on Thursday, continuing to gather support after the world's biggest suppliers firmed up plans to meet for discussing an output freeze. Brent crude LCOC1 rose 38 cents to USD 40.71, after finishing up USD 1.59; or 4.1 percent, at USD 40.33 a barrel on Wednesday.

Buzzer: - Bharti Airtel was buzzing in trade as it was up by close to 3 per cent in trade attributed to the acquisition of Videocon Telecom for Rs 4,428 crore.

In the second half of the day market is likely to follow the global markets and continue its upward momentum. European bourses are also expected to open higher.